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- Date:
- Wednesday, November 04, 2009
- Author:
- Paul Johnson
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Kingwin LZ-1000 1000W Power Supply Review
No matter how you look at it, 1 kilowatt, or 1000 watts, it is a lot of power that most computer enthusiasts will never need. Rest assured though, some of us do need all that power and we are generally very picky about that much power gets delivered to our enthusiast computer builds. Kingwin's LZ-1000 is up to that job?
Build Quality
As we already know from Kingwin’s packaging the LZ-1000 features a single fan design. The single 140mm fan is in the same vein as the preferred standard of a single 120mm fan. The 140mm fan is obviously larger and used for quiet cooling due to its ability to move a larger volume of air at lower RPM than a smaller diameter fan. This is the largest fan we have ever seen in a power supply and SuperFlower was one of the first manufacturers to begin using this design, but recently companies such as CWT have begun to as well. Additionally, given the size constraints of the ATX12v form factor a 140mm fan is most likely the largest size fan that can fit in a standard width ATX power supply. The 140mm fan should give excellent cooling and be very quiet so long as it is paired with a good fan controller. At the same time, the key criteria in our evaluation is whether or not the cooling solution is sufficient, not necessary its sound level or form factor.
External Build Quality
Externally the Kingwin LZ-1000 mimics the ABT-1220MA1S with a few changes. The exterior is once more clad in a black brushed finish that is rather attractive and as it turns out is rather resistant to scratching. Additionally, the unit is once more dominated by the 140mm fan used for cooling the power supply and is lit by LED’s. On the rear of the unit we find that this time there is no voltage selector switch but rather an APFC sticker indicating that the unit does have APFC and is full range. Flipping over to the front of the unit we see that the modular connector interface is completely different from what we have seen from previous Kingwin units. Gone are the coax style screw-on connectors; we now have universal mini-fit JR style connectors. The connectors are plastic and have LED’s behind them that light up white or blue depending on what you set the LED switch to.
The Kingwin LZ-1000 itself is ~7 1/8 inches long while the fixed cables provide a serviceable length of ~19 inches and the modular cables provide a serviceable length of ~19 inches to the first connector. The sleeving is complete and well secured.
Internal Build Quality
Once we open the Kingwin LZ-1000 it becomes immediately apparent that this SuperFlower unit is almost identical to the ABT-1220MA1S unit we reviewed a while back. Once more this particular unit features a single 12v transformer with the primary capacitor being located right next to the transformer in the center of the unit. The fan charged with cooling this unit is once more a single overhead 140mm Globe Fan but this time it is rated at 0.4a at 12v.
As we move over to what is typically the primary side we see much of the input filtering and primary stage tucked under the primary heatsink which houses the APFC components and primary transistors. To the right of frame we see that there are a pair of bridge rectifiers sandwiching a heatsink that, in the one of the few apparent differences from the ABT-1220MA1S, bolts to the main primary heatsink as opposed to sitting under it. The primary input capacitor is located in the center of the unit as we noticed in the overhead view and it is a large Nippon Chemi-con capacitor rated at 560uF 450v 105c which is slightly smaller than we saw on the ABT-1220MA1S.
When we swing over to the secondary side we unsurprisingly see the same layout that we saw with the ABT-1220MA1S. There are once more two PCBs right on top of one another here with one housing part of the input filtering for the primary while the vertical one houses the OCP/OVP circuitry. As we move towards the rear of the unit we see that the secondary capacitors are all provided by CEC Holdings International, a slightly unusual brand that most often is seen in Enermax power supplies. Woven throughout the secondary is the wiring which is bundled with zip ties and the fixed wires exit the housing through the wire guard. The remaining wires lead to the modular interface which is mostly well constructed, the soldering could use some help this time though. Lastly, there are 3 coils found tucked away in the wiring and under the heatsink indicating we are looking at an independently regulated design. Which no longer is quite as modern as it was last time we saw it with the rise in DC-DC secondary designs, but it should still be functional.
Build Quality Summary
The last Kingwin power supply we reviewed was the Mach 1 1220W and that unit was really well built. Fast forward to today, and not much has changed which isn't that surprising given that the two units share the same design. The exterior of the unit is still exceptionally well constructed but one of the best parts of the exterior design, in my opinion, the coax style modular cables are gone. They are replaced by Kingwin’s new more standard connectors that are only special because they are universal. The exterior fit and finish is generally high, with the only distraction being the slightly cheesy Lazer sticker. Moving to the interior we see the same SuperFlower design used in the Mach 1 1220W. Once more, SuperFlower/Kingwin has the primary capacitor provided by Nippon Chemi-con. The only real difference we see here on the primary from before is the bridge rectifiers heatsink is screwed to the main primary heatsink. The secondary maintains the CEC Holdings International capacitors of previous Kingwin units which is fine given we have never seen wide scale issues with this brand. The one slight downside is the soldering on the modular interface is a bit sloppy, but still functionally fine. Overall the build quality is very good for the LZ-1000 and very much like that of the previous Mach 1 1220W.